Classification of Honey Powder Composition by FTIR Spectroscopy Coupled with Chemometric Analysis

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in connection with chemometric analysis were used as a fast and direct approach to classify spray dried honey powder compositions in terms of honey content, the type of diluent (water or skim milk), and carrier (maltodextrin or skim milk powder) used for the preparation of feed solutions before spray drying. Eleven variants of honey powders containing different amounts of honey, the type of carrier, and the diluent were investigated and compared to pure honey and carrier materials. Chemometric discrimination of samples was achieved by principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) modelling procedures performed on the FTIR preprocessed spectral data for the fingerprint region (1800–750 cm⁻¹) and the extended region (3600–750 cm⁻¹). As a result, it was noticed that the type of carrier is a significant factor during the classification of different samples of powdered multifloral honey. PCA divided the samples based on the type of carrier, and additionally among maltodextrin-honey powders it was possible to distinguish the type of diluent. The result obtained by PCA-LDA and PLS-DA scores yielded a clear separation between four classes of samples and showed a very good discrimination between the different honey powder with a 100.0% correct overall classification rate of the samples.     

Immunomodulatory Properties of Polysaccharide-Rich Young Green Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Extract and Its Structural Characterization

Young green barley (YGB) water extract has revealed a beneficial impact on natural killer (NK) cells’ ability to recognize and eliminate human colon cancer cells, without any side effects for normal colon epithelial cells. The direct anticancer effect of the tested compounds has been also shown. The mixture of oligosaccharides found in this extract was characterized by chemical analyses and via FT-IR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF MS techniques. The YGB preparation contained 26.9% of proteins and 64.2% of sugars, mostly glucose (54.7%) and fructose (42.7%), with a small amount of mannose (2.6%) and galactose (less than 0.5%). Mass spectrometry analysis of YGB has shown that fructose oligomers contained from 3 to 19 sugar units. The number of fructans was estimated to be about 10.2% of the dry weight basis of YGB. The presented results suggest the beneficial effect of the consumption of preparations based on young barley on the human body, in the field of colon cancer prevention.     

Direct and iterative methods for interval parametric algebraic systems producing parametric solutions

This paper deals with interval parametric linear systems with general dependencies. Motivated by the so‐called parameterized solution introduced by Kolev, we consider the enclosures of the solution set in a revised affine form. This form is advantageous to a classical interval solution because it enables us to obtain both outer and inner bounds for the parametric solution set and, thus, intervals containing the endpoints of the hull solution, among others. We propose two solution methods, a direct method called the generalized expansion method and an iterative method based on interval‐affine Krawczyk iterations. For the iterative method, we discuss its convergence and show the respective sufficient criterion. For both methods, we perform theoretical and numerical comparisons with some other approaches. The numerical experiments, including also interval parametric linear systems arising in practical problems of structural and electrical engineering, indicate the great usefulness of the proposed methodology and its superiority over most of the existing approaches to solving interval parametric linear systems.     

Application of Double Deposition and Stripping Steps System for Minimization of Interferences of Peaks’ Overlapping in Anodic Stripping Voltammetry

An anodic stripping voltammetric procedure for the determination of bismuth in the presence of excess of Cu²⁺ ions at two ex situ plated gold film electrodes was described. The procedure is based on utilization of two deposition and two stripping steps system. The presented procedure ensures increasing the sensitivity of Bi³⁺ determination and minimization of interferences related to peaks’ overlapping. The calibration graph for bismuth determination was linear from 2.5×10⁻⁹ to 2×10⁻⁸ mol L⁻¹ for deposition time of 300 s at both working electrodes while detection limit was 7.7×10⁻¹⁰ mol L⁻¹.     

On preconditioning and solving an extended class of interval parametric linear systems

Numerical Algorithms - We deal with interval parametric systems of linear equations and the goal is to solve such systems, which basically comes down to finding an enclosure for a parametric...     

Future of interfacial electrochemistry: from structure-function relationships to better understanding of charge transfer reactions and (photo)electrocatalytic reactivity

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry -     

Diversity Oriented Preparation of Pillar[5]arene-Containing [2]Rotaxanes by a Stopper Exchange Strategy

Rotaxane building blocks bearing 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl) benzenesulfonate (BTBS) stoppers have been efficiently prepared from a pillar[5]arene derivative, 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl) benzenesulfonyl chloride (BTBSCl) and different diols, namely 1,10-decanediol and 1,12-dodecanediol. The BTBS moieties of these compounds are good leaving groups and stopper exchange reactions could be achieved by treatment with different nucleophiles thus affording rotaxanes with ester, thioether or ether stoppers.